Political Podcast Downloads Increased 28% Year-Over-Year

Triton Digital^®, the global technology and services provider to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries, announced today the release of its September 2024 reporting period (September 2, 2024 – September 29, 2024), U.S. Podcast Ranker, as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service. In addition to regular monthly reporting, Triton Digital collaborated with Signal Hill Insights to take a closer look at political podcast downloads and audience trends as the U.S. presidential election approaches.

POLITICAL PODCASTS IN AN ELECTION YEAR

The data shows that political podcasts have seen a 28% increase in year-over-year downloads with incremental increases over the last six months. Upon diving deeper, some other notable insights from the Top 250 Podcasts in Triton include:

• Twice as many downloads come from Democrat-leaning podcasts as Republican-leaning ones. Although Democrat-leaning podcasts still make up the majority of the political podcast market, they saw their listenership decline from 58% to 56% year-over-year while Republican podcasts rose from 23% to 28% of total political podcast downloads.
• The demographic profile of political podcast listeners reveals an older, highly educated, and affluent audience compared to the US general 18+ population: 59.7% are college graduates, 31.9% report a household income exceeding $100,000, and nearly half (47.2%) are 55 years or older.
• While still affluent and educated compared to the US Population, Republican-leaning podcast listener profiles under-index compared to Democrat and Independent-leaning podcasts on these attributes. Additionally, they boast the highest proportion (89.9%) of White/Caucasian listeners among the three political leanings. Democrat-leaning podcasts have attracted the highest proportion (17.4%) of Black/African American listeners.
• Independent-leaning podcasts claim the highest proportion (16.2%) of Hispanic listeners and are 68.2% college-educated, and 62.4% male.

Political lean is defined based on the audience from Triton Digital Podcast Metrics Demos+ data for political affiliation.

SEPTEMBER U.S. PODCAST RANKER DATA

iHeart Audience Network earned the #1 spot again on the Top Sales Networks Report for the month of September, with 69.2M Average Weekly Downloads and 19.9M Average Weekly Users. SiriusXM Podcast Network came in again at #2 with 41.6M Average Weekly Downloads and 13.7M Average Weekly Users, followed by NPR again at #3 with 26.1M Average Weekly Downloads and 7.1M Average Weekly Users.

For this reporting period, the top three podcasts based on downloads included NPR News Now (NPR) again at #1, Up First (NPR) again at #2, and Crime Junkie (audiochuck) again at #3.

For listeners, the top three podcasts included NPR News Now (NPR) again at #1, Crime Junkie (audiochuck) again at #2, and Up First (NPR) again at #3.

There were several debuts for the month of September including Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Wondery), So Supernatural (SiriusXM Podcast Network), New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce (Wondery), and The Lincoln Project (Soundrise/Resolute Square).

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal (iHeart Audience Network), Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) (SiriusXM Podcast Network), and All In With Chris Hayes (NBCUniversal News Group) debuted for downloads.

3 and Out with John Middlekauff (iHeart Audience Network), Club 520 Podcast (iHeart Audience Network), and Countdown with Keith Olbermann (iHeart Audience Network) debuted for listeners.

The Top Sales Network Reports are ranked by Average Weekly Downloads and Average Weekly Users in accordance with v2.1 of the IAB Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines. Participating Sales Networks include content owners/creators and sales representation organizations. Certified by the IAB Tech Lab, Triton’s Podcast Metrics eliminates inconsistent measurement practices and self-reported data, providing content creators, marketers, media buyers, and the audio industry at large with validated and transparent podcast audience data.

Any sales network or publisher with an audience in the United States is eligible to participate in the U.S. Podcast Report. To learn more, contact: solutions@tritondigital.com.

About Triton Digital

Triton Digital® is the global technology and services leader to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries. Operating in more than 80 countries, Triton provides innovative technology that enables broadcasters, podcasters, and online music services to build their audience, maximize revenue, and streamline their day-to-day operations. In addition, Triton powers the global online audio industry with Webcast Metrics®, the leading streaming audio measurement service and Podcast Metrics, one of the first IAB certified podcast measurement services in the industry. With unparalleled integrity, excellence, teamwork, and accountability, Triton remains committed to connecting audio, audience, and advertisers to continuously fuel the growth of the global audio industry. For more information, visit www.TritonDigital.com.

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